Maggie and Paul Murdaugh: The Paper Trail

Updated November 13, 2026

A document chronology, distinct from the event timeline. It identifies who produced each item, why it matters, and how much of it has been verified.

Date	Document and author	Authority and review
July 12, 2022	Disbarment order · South Carolina Supreme Court	Separate court order removing Alex’s law license.
July 14, 2022	Murder and weapon indictments · Colleton County grand jury	Charging documents hosted by the Attorney General; accusations, not trial findings.
April 1, 2024	Federal sentencing announcement · U.S. Department of Justice	Official account of the separate financial-crime sentence.
February 11, 2026	Oral-argument notice · South Carolina Judicial Branch	Official notice for the related appeals; video archive also available.
May 13, 2026	Opinion 28329 · South Carolina Supreme Court	Published decision reviewed for the new-trial holding and legal reasoning.
June 8, 2026	Assignment order · South Carolina Supreme Court	Official order reviewed; confirms May 29 remittitur and Judge McCaslin’s assignment.
September 8, 2026	Venue-order copy · hosted by FITSNews	Full text not independently reviewed in this update. The venue account is attributed to ABC News.
October 16, 2026	Original article · Faces in the Footnotes	Reporting about the evidence hearing. This is an article, not a signed court order.
October 30, 2026	Dismissal memorandum · defense counsel	Party filing hosted by FITSNews. Supports the August 7 motion. Only the opening page and indexed request were reviewed; claims remain attributed to the defense.
November 6, 2026	Response opposing dismissal · prosecution	Newsroom-hosted PDF not fully reviewed; the state’s position is summarized through attributed reporting.
November 10, 2026	Report of latest response · WCSC/WIS	Date of the news report. The full defense-reply document has not been independently reviewed for this guide.

A signed order or transcript from the November 13 hearing may clarify the dispute after that proceeding occurs. A scheduled hearing is not a document or an outcome. Open the document links · Return to the case

First-Trial Transcript Pointer

Record on Appeal, Volume XV: official court link contains the filed transcript of the final trial proceedings. The March 2, 2023 charge, recorded deliberation times, verdict and polling were reviewed directly. Open the preserved copy of the court PDF. The proceeding date is distinct from the later filing of the appeal record. Read the separately labeled jury-charge reproduction for a searchable version.

The relevant passages are PDF pages 439–461, record pages 7137–7159, reporter pages 5852–5874. The start is recorded at 3:40 p.m. on PDF page 456, reporter page 5869, line 24. The jury returns to the courtroom with a verdict at 7:04 p.m. on PDF page 457, reporter page 5870, lines 3–4. Four guilty verdicts are read on PDF page 458, reporter page 5871, lines 5–25. The preserved file is a copy of the official source, not a new court certification.

Why It Matters

A document’s date and author show where it fits in the case. The paper trail also makes gaps visible, so a missing order is not replaced by an assumption.

What Happens Next

A signed order or transcript from the November 13 hearing may clarify the dismissal dispute. A scheduled hearing alone supplies neither a document nor a result.

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